


Either we Work Together, or We Hang Seperately

by karrenia_rune



Category: Andromeda
Genre: Eureka Maru, Gen, Prompt Fic, good-natured bantering, not playing the blame game if the scam fails
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-28
Updated: 2014-07-28
Packaged: 2018-02-10 17:35:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,060
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2033925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/karrenia_rune/pseuds/karrenia_rune
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A pre-series scam for Beka and Harper, with a little good-natured bantering and worrying about whether or not the scam will fail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Either we Work Together, or We Hang Seperately

Disclaimer: Andromeda belongs to Fireworks Productions and Tribune Entertainment as do the characters based on the creations of Gene Roddenberry; they are not mine. This is set just prior to the events in the televised series. 

 

“Either We Work Together or We Hang Separately” by karrenia

The bucket seat shook beneath him and the thrum of straining engines and gears made it feel as if bones were vibrating along in harmony. Seamus Harper knew that it was only his over-active imagination at work along with his own apprehension that the jury-rigged modifications he had made to the Eureka Maru playing on his mind; but under his breath, he muttered: “Hold together, baby, just hold together for a little while longer.”

And as if the ship had heard him it shuddered and rolled but held together long enough for him bring it in for an unauthorized landing on the floating mass of a Drift, one of the orbiting platforms not big enough to be called a planet but still plenty big for a settlement. 

The boss had specified something of the sort when they had outlined the specifics of the job; and he hadn’t pressed her on it. It was just as well because for their own particular reasons every member of their little ‘family’ had good cause for not wanting too much of a spectacle of themselves. 

Putting the final touches on the landing procedures and shutting the engines, Seamus Harper unbuckled himself and leaped out of the seat. With the unconscious ease of long practice, he patted the energy blaster at his side.

Reassured on that score he strode across the deck his soles of his boots clicking on the metal flooring. Slipping up beside him on feet that hardly made any noise at all the purple-skinned girl who had recently been welcomed into their group, joined him and they departed the ship together.

“Hey, Trance,” was all he said. 

“Hey, you,” she replied.

“Any further word from the Boss?” he asked after they had been walking for some time. 

The Drift’s architecture was a haphazard as its population, an assortment of styles, eras, and cultures, and Trance felt a strong attraction to gawk, so distracted so did not at first reply and then, with a shake of her head, she replied. “Not yet, but I assume we’ll hear from her soon.”  
**  
Meanwhile Beka Valentine and Rev Bem stood on a rise above a sprawling estate that happened to belong to a man of means but dubious connections. 

This fact did not bother Beka that much. Her outlook on the matter had always been that if one stopped moving forward, one stopped moving at all. And if they were able to pull of this particular heist then their target did not deserve to hang onto his hot goods in the first place. And, as Harper was wont to say: “A security system is only as good when it can prevent any would-be hackers from slipping in through the loopholes.”  
Now, here they were, searching for that particular loophole.  
**

The interior of the building looked as if it had been built with an eye to the blueprints of an underground bunker but furnished with the latest in high-tech security and expensive furnishings. As she and Harper negotiated around the areas that he had earlier identified as ‘blind spots,’ areas that were designed specially to trip any intruders who managed to penetrate this far into the complex, Beka muttered, “Someone obviously likes himself too well.”

“Yeah, boss, but we’re not here to pass muster on the owner’s interior decorating,” Harper quietly replied and then sniffed disdainfully, and added: “You know that’s not a bad idea, it might have saved us time in sneaking around.”

“And how long before they got wise to the scam and we blew our cover?” she asked.

“Good point,” he replied with an off-center grin.

The conversation ended as they bypassed yet another in a series of blind-spots this time were a pair of security guards sat at a table playing a card game.  
**  
Beka stood guard at the entrance to the small room, her left nervously tapping on the floor and her weapon held in tightly in one hand. The worth of a score was inversely proportional to the risk and she and her team had known and measured the risks going into this and had found them acceptable. Still, the lack of any kind of response from had her worried. As the Wayist member of their small and tight-knit crew would have said were he present to witness her fidgeting: 

“Try not to borrow trouble; it will come calling all on its own; with or without an invitation.”

Meanwhile Harper knelt on the crowd with a lead line trailing from the data port implant in his neck to the combination lock on the safe in the rich man’s office. “How much longer will this take,” Beka demanded.

“Not much longer,” Harper replied.

“One, two, Bingo! Open Says me!” Harper crowed. 

“Keep it down!” she whispered in a tightly controlled whisper.

Harper swung open the door of the safe and let out a low whistle of his own. “Our mark has a taste for the classics. I haven’t seen get-up like that since the Nets took over Old Earth.”

“Harper, don’t start….”

“I ain’t starting anything, Boss,” replied Harper. “All I’m saying is that either this guy is going in for starting his own museum of stuff from before the fall of the Commonwealth, or he’s stock-piling.”

“Either way, we take what we can grab and blow this popsicle joint,” replied Beka.

“Yeah. You never can tell what some people will value as a treasure.”

“Hey, Harper,” she paused and then added: “We still need to get this stuff out of here and back to the Maru. Has it ever occurred to you that this heist went way too easy considering the amount of security we had to go through?”

“Stop worrying so much, Beka,” Harper replied with another grin, this time a little wider and more mischievous. “We’ve got this one in the bag.”

Beka sighed and began to stuff the take into the bags that they had brought along for that purpose and then muttered under her breath. “Famous last words. I just hope this one doesn’t come back to bite us on keisters.”


End file.
